Condo Prices Will Keep Going Up Says Genworth Financial

Genworth Financial Canada (they insure mortgages among other things) has released a report saying that Vancouver condominium prices will keep rising until at least 2011. They predict that demand for resale condos will slow as it has over the last 3 quarters on 2006 and that new construction will also slow down. The rate is not phenomenal (6.2% in 2007 and 4.4% per year from 2008 - 2011). The average condo price will rise from a 2006 level of $289,344 to $364,689 in 2011.

The data for this report was gather from the Conference Board of Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

This was featured on the front page of the Vancouver Sun BusinessBC section today and I am sure will be dismissed as self-promoting industry propaganda by the bubble bloggers out there, but it seems about right to me. The rate of increase we have seen for the past 5 years is not sustainable, but at this time I see no reason to expect a correction of any serious nature. Slow steady growth seems like a reasonable expectation for the next several years as all the major contributor to a strong economy are in great shape.